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New middle school on schedule

Ribbon-cutting tentatively set for Aug. 26; school still set to start Aug. 29

By Jenni Grubbs

Times Staff Writer

Posted:
07/26/2016 07:09:23 PM MDT

Giving the Morgan County Re-3 Board of Education an update on construction of the new middle school on Monday night, from left, are Nate Ainsworth, Bryan Sculthorpe and Greg Wegner of contractor Haselden Construction, owner's representative Dan Spykstra of Wember, Inc. and (seated) Cody Knoblock of designer Wold Architects and Engineers. The new school currently is on time and within budget, the board heard. (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

The contractor building the new Fort Morgan Middle School had good news Monday night for the Morgan County Re-3 Board of Education: The school is on schedule and remains on budget.

The school board heard an update on how the new middle school building is coming at Monday night's regular meeting. Three representatives from builder Haselden Construction and one from designer Wold Architects Engineers and owner's representative Dan Spykstra of Wember, Inc. spoke about where the project is at now and what's left to do.

"The good thing is we're still on schedule for Aug. 24 completion," Spykstra announced.

Workers started moving the furniture for the new school into the building yet on Monday, he said.

Haselden Project Manager Greg Wegner said the main classroom wings, or areas A, B and C, were "punch-listed out" and had various testing going on.

In the administrative space, or area D, flooring was being installed, he said, along with mechanical and electrical work and the final cleaning up. After that, the final punch list would need to be completed.

Area E, aka the cafetorium and music rooms, has lots of work going on right now, Wegner told the board. Workers are applying trim around the stage and "basically completing everything acquired for the theater lighting and the stage area," such as acoustical panels, ceiling panels and flooring. "There's a lot of work there."

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The two gyms that make up area F are more complete, he said, with the bleachers being installed, as well as the wood floor.

"It very much looks like a completed gym," Wegner said of the gym spaces. Other than some trim work and floor polishing, "we're pretty much done there."

About the school's exterior, Haselden Assistant Project Manager Nate Ainsworth said the sprinkler system was installed on the east side and was going in on the west side. Between 95 and 98 percent of the exterior concrete was finished, with the recent rain causing a few issues with that but also helping with getting the trees in for the landscaping.

Ainsworth also said that the middle school's roof was now certified by the roof inspector, which was a "big milestone" for the building. Exterior signage also was up, along with lighting. Sod would start going in yet this week.

Spykstra also shared that code inspections are "passing well" so far, and a moving service was hired to move to everything from the old middle school to the new one. The old science chemicals that were no longer viable were disposed of properly, he said, and advertisements have gone out to give away the furniture from the old school that the district no longer needs.

As far as the budget for the new school goes, things were within budget right now and looked to stay on track through completion, according to the owner's representative, contractor and Re-3 School District Chief Financial Officer Mike Lee.

So far, the district and state have spent about $27.6 million, including the contractor's latest funding request for about $2.43 million toward ongoing work. And then there will be about another $6 million left for the remainder of the project's completion, Spykstra said.

Lee pointed out that the latest funding request will be the first use of local money for the project, instead of the state BEST grant money.

"We're down to our local taxpayers' money," he said.

The school district's owner's contingency fund is pretty well tapped out, Lee said.

"Anything we approve beyond this is coming out of our pockets," he told the board.

However, the contractor's contingency fund, which also comes from school district money, still has around $142,000 left in it, Lee said, with Bryan Sculthorpe from Haselden adding that it may be closer to $120,000 after a few more change order requests.

The Haselden representatives and Lee also discussed the rising acceleration allowance costs, which was what the board approved for the contractor to do and spend in order to keep the project on time regardless of weather delays and such.

Sculthorpe said that while there had been more costs than expected with this because of rain — $192,000 instead of just $150,000, the contractor had found $35,000 in savings elsewhere to help balance that out. Currently, they were on a "solid schedule," but the crews would still have to deal with whatever weather events come along over the next few weeks.

Spykstra said that the acceleration allowance had been "working pretty well," but it was something for the board to be aware of with its growing costs and the decreasing contingency amount.

Lee also advised the board that the acceleration costs may need more district and board oversight in coming weeks.

But overall, the board seemed pleased with what they heard about the new school and where it's at with about a month to go before school is set to start on Aug. 29.

Notably, the board members and superintendent did not hear anything to indicated that date would need to change.

"We will be on time, and we will be on budget," Re-3 Superintendent Ron Echols declared.

The board also set a tentative date of Aug. 26 for a ribbon-cutting for the new school, which also likely would include community tours of the building.

Echols said he wanted to invite community and state officials to that ceremony, including ones the BEST grant committee.

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